


Your fire feels like ice (Against my skin)

by KATPUKE



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (no real name use aside from those who have their names as their users), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arson, Bad just wants everyone to be okay, Best Friends, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Dream is trying his best, Emotional Hurt, Eret is a tyrant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, George is scared, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, I Made Myself Cry, Loss of Trust, Major Character Injury, Minecraft, Minecraft but IRL, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sapnap is scared, Tags May Change, Technoblade is an asshole, Trust Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, War, mcyt - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27484180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KATPUKE/pseuds/KATPUKE
Summary: After a hefty price raise on produce, Bad is unable to give Eret the rest of the payment. With winter mere months away, the thought of Dream's friends and family dying due to lack of food was gut-wrenching. So, in a flurry of emotions, Dream suggests they raid Eret's castle and end his tyranny across the Badlands. But even with success, what will this mean for the future?(this summary is subject to change in the future)
Relationships: ALL PLATONIC, Antfrost & Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Darryl Noveschosch, Clay | Dream & Floris | Fundy, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Karl Jacobs, Clay | Dream & Niki | Nihachu, Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Wilbur Soot
Kudos: 15





	Your fire feels like ice (Against my skin)

Summer was always disliked in the Badlands, temperatures rising to one hundred and four Fahrenheit mid-season. It made working unbearable, wheat and carrot growth was slow during this time of the year, however, hunters had an easier time getting prey as most animals enjoyed sitting under trees, or some opted for sunbathing. Dream was always able to capture big game since lots of deer and cattle liked to roam in the plains a mile and a half from the village. 

'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...' Dream made a headcount of the cattle in his head while readjusting his sweaty hands on the crossbow. His eyes focused in concentration as he steadied himself against a rock and looked through the scope, eyeing a smaller cow. It didn't appear to be sick outwardly and it was quite plump considering its short stature. After a few more moments of looking the cow over, he took his gaze out of the scope. Dream pulled back the arrow of his crossbow and gripped it hard as he set the arrow into place with a small click. Dream closed his left eye and looked back into the scope, his eyebrows furrowing under his mask as he aimed for the body of the cow. Dream inhaled slowly and put his finger on the trigger, ready to press down. 

His concentration was shattered in mere seconds as the sound of a familiar voice flooded his ears. His body jerked in surprise, causing him to press down and shoot a tree near the herd of cows. ''Hi!'' Sapnap smiled brightly, not seeming to notice that he had just lost a cow that was supposed to feed the whole village. Dream glanced at Sapnap and then back at the cows to see them scattering, none of them harmed, merely scared. ''Sapnap...'' Dream groaned in annoyance as he placed his masked face onto the rock below him. ''Hello? Am I not gonna get a hi back? That's so rude.'' Sapnap huffed dramatically, his blue eyes glancing down at the masked man. ''You just lost dinner for the whole village, I've been waiting for hours.'' Dream rolled onto his side to glare at Sapnap. ''Oh,'' Sapnap muttered, feeling the others glare even through the mask. ''Well, George and I caught a buck. He was a fattie.'' Sapnap chortled, trying to lighten the mood. Dream wanted to stay mad at his friend but he felt his heart squeeze at the thought and dropped any harsh feelings. ''It's alright, I know that we just got a new shipment of carrots and potatoes in as well.'' Dream waved his friend off as he slid himself onto his knees and pushed himself up, now glancing down at Sapnap thanks to their height difference. Dream noticed the look of admiration Sapnap had in his eyes, but Dream couldn't quite understand why. ''Is George back at the village?'' He asked, pushing his thoughts away as he kneeled and grabbed his remaining arrows. ''Yeah, it's nearing noon so I told him I would come and get you for lunch.'' Sapnap smiled as Dream got back up and started walking back towards the village, knowing Sapnap was trailing behind him. The two fell into a comfortable silence, the only noises the two could hear was their footprints and the distant sound of crickets. Dream enjoyed moments like these, where he could just allow himself to relax at the side of his favourite people. Not many people took that role, Sapnap and George were the first in a long time. Nearing his twenty-second birthday, he had only met a few other people that had managed to understand him as well as the two could in his lifetime, most of the time the friendships had ended due to his mask and his refusal to take it off and face them head-on. But, if Dream were to truly he opened about himself; He was a coward. He can't handle head-on confrontation because of past events and the mask gave him the security of being unreadable through expression. At times, Dream would look into the mirror and stare at himself until his features became a blur, simply meshing together, but each time he did it, his time spent doing it kept getting shorter and shorter. But, Dream was sure that if he asked Sapnap what he looked like, the younger would give off every single detail of his face from the few times he had taken the mask off. Dream couldn't help but frown at that, knowing that his face was like a treat to his friends. 

Stories were shared about him around his village and other surrounding villages, naming him the 'Masked Hero'. It was straight forward but Dream didn't want to be known as some man without a face, inside he yearned for the day he will have the confidence to take the mask off full-time and retire it. But it was merely a thought and Dream couldn't imagine how it would go down. 

''Ream-... Dream!'' Sapnap yelped, causing Dream to jump and look back at him. ''What?'' He said, only noticing that they were in the village after Sapnap pointed and waved around the two dramatically. ''Oh.'' He muttered, looking around at the familiar place. ''God you get so caught up in your head, I always wonder what you're thinking about.'' Sapnap chuckled lightheartedly and took the lead, Dream trailing behind with an uncomfortable feeling creeping up his back as people stared. Dream was well-known for a few stories, but his most recognisable story, in his eyes at least, was how he had saved the village from a raid and almost died to a ravager. He still had nightmares about its ghoulish face and how it attempted to ram its horn through his stomach. A chill ran up his back despite the hot weather as he thought about it, a frown crossing his features under the mask. Dream forced himself to look head-on, noticing George sitting at a wooden table with three plates of food. ''I'm glad you saved some for us, Georgie.'' He joked, watching as the older huffed and pouted dramatically. ''You know damn well you can out eat me and Sapnap easily.'' The other said as he pushed two full plates towards the two. Dream took a seat and placed his crossbow at the end of the table, grabbing a piece of bread off of his plate. ''I know the bread is the best part but can you please start with the meat,'' George said, glaring at Dream through his goggles while he cut his food up. ''Niki was nice enough to cook it the way that you like it this time around, you know she doesn't do that often.'' George pointed his fork at Dream, chattering up a storm with a full mouth. ''Dude, eat and then talk. You're gross.'' Dream chuckled and put the bread down. He lifted the bottom half of his mask to expose his mouth and grabbed a piece of meat off his plate with his bare hands and took a chunk out of it. Niki was a god at cooking, she knew the exact spices and herbs to make gamey meat like venison truly taste good, bursts of rosemary, bay, and sage filled his mouth... he swore he could've drooled. ''God, you're one to talk, use your utensils!'' Sapnap chuckled and started to cut into his food, taking a bite. ''God, Niki did so well cooking this!'' The black-haired boy smiled with his mouth closed and chewed happily. ''Has Bad gotten any word on our wheat shipment? We're running out and we were supposed to get it almost five days ago at this point.'' George looked at Dream, eyes lingering on his unmasked mouth a few moments to long. ''I don't know actually, I know we have potatoes and carrots, obviously,'' Dream said as he pointed down at the cut-up and well-seasoned produce. ''But I'm not sure about the wheat...'' Dream muttered as he placed his meat down and grabbed his bread, taking a small bite out of it. Dream chewed for a moment and swallowed, covering his mouth with his hand haphazardly. ''Do you wanna head over to Bad's after we eat? We can hop on our horses.'' He asked George and Sapnap, looking between the two as they chewed. Sapnap was the first the answer with a chipper 'Yes', that wasn't surprising though. Sapnap was always up for an adventure; George was another story though. George hummed in thought as he finished chewing before looking at Dream with a sharp nod, ''Yeah, we can go.'' 

The three finished eating in silence after that and as expected, Dream did out eat them easily. His plate was clean whereas Sapnap and George's dishes still had some potatoes and carrot pieces on them. The three of them grabbed their plates and brought them over to Niki's shack, placing the dishes on top of a few others. ''Fundy!'' Dream called out to the fox-human hybrid who was washing dishes near the back of the shack. ''Yeah?'' The hybrid glanced back towards Dream and his friends before turning his gaze back to the dishes. ''We're gonna head out towards Bad's hut, we're gonna be a little while. We need to figure out what's going on with the wheat so that Niki can bake more of her delicious bread.'' Dream said while pulling his mask back down. ''Okay, have fun!'' Fundy said, grabbing a few more dishes while Dream and the others walked away and towards the horse stables.

Dream made it the stables first, reaching his hand out to pet his beloved horse, Spirit. The horse accepted the pet lovingly while Dream guided at the bridle gently enough to get the horse out of the stall, Dream glanced over at George and Sapnap as they did the same thing. ''Hand me my saddle please.'' Dream said, making grabby hands towards Sapnap who was already over by the saddle rack. Sapnap grabbed his and Dream's saddle and handed Dream the dark brown stained saddle, Dream quickly sliding the saddle onto Spirit's back and clasping it on his stomach. He gave the horse a quick pat on the back and hopped on, grabbing the reins with damp hands. ''Everybody ready?'' He called out and glanced behind himself, watching as Sapnap got onto his horse right after George. ''Yup!'' George called out, giving Dream the sign to start moving. Dream pressed his pinwheel on his shoe into Spirit's side gently, prompting him to trot forward. George and Sapnap followed behind, the sound of three sets of hooves trotting on the broken ground taking up most of the open air till Sapnap spoke, ''What are we gonna do if we don't get the wheat shipment this week?'' He asked as an open question, focusing on the land in front of the trio. ''We're most likely gonna be breadless for a little while, that or we'll go to Eret's castle and demand the shipment is sent over.'' Dream said as he stared in front of himself, not entirely stoked about the idea of confronting Eret.

''But I would prefer not to do that...'' He added after a moment of silence, both of the men behind him agreed with a hum. No one in the Badlands liked Eret, they all had a mutual distaste for him. Who wouldn't? He was a self-centred prick who only cares about his riches. Dream wasn't sure what Bad and Skeppy had done to get Eret to send them over potatoes, carrots and wheat willingly but Dream could only assume it was a pretty penny or two. Dream knew that the riches the two were using the pay for the main food supply would run out sooner or later, the only season of the year where you could mine successfully was in autumn, where the temperatures weren't too hot or too cold and mobs were less likely to come out of their spawners. ''I hope Bad isn't putting himself in danger just for some produce...'' Sapnap muttered, slumping forward onto his horse in an attempt to get comfy. It would be a few hours before the trio would get to Bad's hut, the three could only hope it would be before nightfall though. With the summer heat, mobs were at a worryingly high spawn rate and with how unprepared the three were, it would mean a painful death. The thought sent shivers up Dreams spine and an idea popped into his head, ''It will be a bumpy ride, but should we speed up? We can cut the trip down to four hours easily.'' Dream said, glancing at the two behind him yet again. ''I would like that,'' George said, Sapnap hummed in distaste as he forced himself to sit up and grab onto his horse's reins. Dream pressed his pinwheel into Spirit's side yet again, and the horse sped up significantly. George and Sapnap followed in his steps, all three horses galloping.  
-  
Dream was glad he had suggested they sped up, the sun was setting by the time they got to Bad's hut. The three tied their horses up outside and went into the hut, looking around to see if anything changed, which nothing had. ''It's pretty late, what's up?'' Bad asked as he filled a kettle up with water and placed it on the stove, opening the bottom door and using a flint and steel to light the coal. ''We were curious about the wheat shipment, from what I recall George telling me is that we were supposed to get it four and a half days ago but Eret and his men have lacked in showing up at the village.'' Dream said, noticing how Bad had stiffened in front of the stove like an opossum playing dead. ''Uh... I... We probably won't be getting the shipment.'' Bad stammered out, his tone wobbly as he fidgeted with his hands. ''Why?'' George asked, his interest rising. Bad was quiet for a moment, his grey face puzzled as he thought about what he was going to say. ''Well, Eret decided to raise the price last minute without telling me... And he refuses to give me the shipment until I pay for the rest.'' Bad looked upset, understandably so. ''How much was the price raised?'' George walked up to Bad, attempting to make eye-contact with the demon hybrid only for Bad to look away. ''Well, It was previously six Emeralds and ten Diamonds... But he raised it to two Netherite ingots on top of that.'' Bad winced as if the words were like a hot iron, and to be honest, they were. ''Does Eret really expect you to pay that much? That's insane,'' Dream said, his eyebrows furrowing under his mask as his frustration grew. ''You know how greedy Eret is, he takes and takes and takes. He doesn't understand how difficult it is to get Netherite since he's just handed it.'' Dream added, his hands clenching into fists. Bad sighed, shaking his head with an unreadable expression. ''I know, Dream. I know. I've tried so hard to negotiate with him but he won't let up. We could lose all of our produce.'' Bad muttered, his tone bitter. Dream let out an exasperated sigh, his knuckles turning white from how hard he was clenching his fists. ''This isn't good. The village won't survive during the winter, Bad. We always need to have produce stocked up from the summer because prey is so hard to find.'' George said in disbelief, noticing that Dream had sat down and stared at the floor. ''I know, George. Do you think I don't? I realise how bad this is!'' Bad raised his voice, his pointed tail waving angrily. A shrill shriek whipped through the hut, all gazes turning to the kettle. Bad grabbed the handle and took it off the heat, clenching the handle hard. ''I'm sorry for yelling,'' Bad said, glancing at George. ''It's okay, I know this is stressful,'' George said, squeezing Bad's shoulder reassuringly.

''I think we should storm his castle.'' Dream finally spoke, his tone shaky. Bad instantly jumped in, eyeing Dream with a look of hysteria, ''We are not storming his castle, it's suicide. And I will not be dying over some produce.'' Bad glared at the masked man, his tone stern. ''But you're willing to let your people die? Are you that fucking selfish?'' Dream said in a low voice, his tone dripping with anger. George and Sapnap looked at Dream with expressions that the masked man could only interpret as uncomfortable. Bad was quiet, eyes wide in disbelief as Dream's hands started to shake with frustration about the situation, his eyes pin pricking with tears. Silence grew like moss over the four, still shocked from his outburst, now watching as he sat on the bamboo chair with his head in his hands. George wanted to comfort him, his bones ached for every second he wasn't by his best friends side but he felt he couldn't do much, Dream was extremely stubborn and trying to get him off an idea was like trying to find netherite, It was practically impossible. George glanced at Bad with a doubtful look, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. George then looked towards Sapnap, his chest felt heavy as he watched the other tear up and wipe his eyes with frustration, it made him realise how young he was. Bad looked down at the dirty-blonde haired man with an unreadable expression, his thoughts racing as to what he should do. ''Dream, you know Eret is going to be prepared and have guards. And if we don't win this, we won't get anything from him ever.'' Bad finally broke the silence, watching as Dream's shoulders tensed. ''I know, but I'm confident we know what we're doing...'' Dream whispered, his voice barely heard in the quiet hut as he took his head out of his hands and looked at Bad. And even through the mask, Bad could tell Dream was serious about this. Bad trusted Dream wholeheartedly but was this the best choice for them?

''Bad, I know you're on the fence about this but trust me. Please.'' Dream said, his tone more steady than before as he stood up and stared at Bad. ''Our people deserve life, but they cannot fulfil that with Eret's tyranny.'' Dream spoke, and all of them knew it was the truth. ''Dream, if you're so sure about this, then I'm in,'' Sapnap said, offering a small smile. ''I'm in too.'' George sighed after a moment of thought, and the trio looked at Bad. ''What will it be, Bad? Anguish upon our people or an attempt to free them, and us, from Eret's dictatorship.'' Dream spoke, his eyes focusing on the crystal-white eyes that held uncertainty.

''I...'' Bad faltered as a troubled feeling took him over; As Bad remembered all the past festivals the village had held, how his people were connected, he realised how selfish he was being. ''What's your plan?'' He finally said, his heart heavy as he held out his hand. Dream quickly took it into his own and they shook on it. ''We'll discuss it in the morning, I need to brainstorm a little.'' Dream said, taking a step back and sitting down on the couch. ''I'll go grab the extra blankets,'' Bad said with a sniffle, his shoulders tense as he left the room, leaving the trio in awkward silence. Dream stared into the ground distantly, shoulders tense as he thought about the possibilities over the next few weeks. Dream felt an inkling of regret, knowing that Bad was just as scared of death as Dream was, but he knew that without a harsh push, Bad wouldn't have agreed. On the other hand, he felt victorious with high hopes, excitement coursing through his veins. 

Tomorrow morning would bring the village closer to freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoy [:
> 
> (edited and proof read more in depth)


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